Religious Leaders to Unite for Morristown Faith-Based Do No Harm Symposium

Posted 9/9/2015 by Angelo M. Valente

Stemming the tide of the opiate abuse epidemic cannot be done without all members of the community. The National Prevention Strategy calls on community, nonprofit, and faith-based organizations to support the implementation and enforcement of alcohol and drug control policies. This includes educating youth and adults about the risks of prescription drug misuse and increasing awareness on the proper storage and disposal of prescription medications. These recommendations are designed to help prevent substance abuse, and should be followed to end the opiate abuse epidemic currently impacting New Jersey.

Next week, on September 16th, the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey and the Drug Enforcement Administration New Jersey are hosting a symposium to empower the religious community in our state with information and education on preventing opiate abuse: REGISTER HERE. The faith-based leaders will also be enabled to nurture the members of their congregation who need long term recovery. Religious voices, volunteers, and worshippers are an important part in developing solutions to end this scourge. I invite you to share this information with any person, group or religious organization you think may benefit from attending, or is interested in helping to develop solutions to the life threatening opiate addiction outbreak afflicting New Jersey.

From the DailyRecord.com:

Symposium on opiate abuse planned in Morristown

Special to the Daily Record5:20 p.m. EDT August 6, 2015

(Photo: File photo)

MORRISTOWN – The Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey has organized a symposium that will provide free training to faith-based leaders to help them fight the opiate abuse epidemic in the state.

“Faith-based leaders are valuable members of the community and help out greatly with the increasing heroin epidemic our state is currently facing,” said said Angelo Valente, executive director at the Partnership. “Communities might not see it as an issue where they live, however, the substance abuse epidemic in New Jersey is rising at staggering rates and is difficult to ignore.”

Valente said that faith leaders are often the first responders for families looking to prevent substance abuse in their home or to treat an addiction.